Reconstructing The Muslim Mind ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 31st January 2015

6 years old lecture but very relevant for any time!

Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives by Chase Robinson

After one year of reading (not listening in audible but reading the fine print hardcover), I feel sad that the book is finished for me yesterday - Islamic Civilization in Thirty Lives: The First 1,000 Years. This is written by distinguished historian of Islam Professor Chase F. Robinson and published in 2016. I haven't found many books in English that describe major Islamic figures in the last one and half millennia. Something that came close was written by Badr Azimbadi named Great Personalities in Islam, which I finished 3 years ago. But the quality of Chase Robinson's work is nowhere near comparable with any other books of similar category I can think of. My friend Nody first told me about this book when she shared with me a youtube video Professor Robinson's conversation with Sarah Chayes. After watching it, I immediately ordered the book and started reading when it arrived. It's been a pleasure to see the diversity Islam brought to the world over a long period of time through some of the well-known and unknown figures in this book. The book has been organized by describing the lives of 30 persons picking a few from each century, ordered by their year of death. The 30th character in this book dies in 1524. I wish a follow up of this book is written for the last 5 centuries as well, perhaps picking another 10 lives?

Here are the biographies touched in this book.

Part 1: Islam & Empire (600-850)

• (1) Muhammad- the Prophet (632)
• (2) Ali - cousin, caliph and forefather of Shi'ism (661)
• (3) A'isha - wife of the Prophet - (678)
• (4) Abd al-Malik - engineering of the caliphate (705)
• (5) Ibn al-Muqaffa - translator and essayist (759)
• (6) Rabia al-Adawiyya - renunciant and saint (801)
• (7) al-Mamun - caliph-patron (833)

Part 2: The Islamic Commonwealth (850-1050)

• (8) Arib - courtesan of caliphs (890)
• (9) al-Hallaj - the Truth (922)
• (10) al-Tabari - traditionalist rationalist (923)
• (11) Abu Bakr al-Razi - free thinking physician (925 or 935)
• (12) Ibn Fadlan - intrepid envoy (fl. tenth century)
• (13) Ibn Muqla - vizier, scribe, calligrapher? (940)
• (14) Mahmud of Ghazana - conqueror and patron (1030)
• (15) al-Biruni - catalog of nature and culture (c. 1050)

Part 3: A Provisional Synthesis (1050-1250)

• (16) Ibn Hazm - polemicist, polymath (1064)
• (17) Karima al-Marwaziyya - hadith scholar (1070)
• (18) al-Ghazali - Renewer of Islam (1111)
• (19) Abu al-Qasim Ramisht - merchant millionaire (c. 1150)
• (20) al-Idrisi - cosmopolitan cartographer (1165)
• (21) Saladin - anti-Crusader hero (1193)
• (22) Ibn Rushd (Averroes) - Aristotelian monotheist (1198)

Part 4: Disruption & Integration (1250 - 1525)

• (23) Rumi - Sufi poet (1273)
• (24) Rashid al-Din - physician, courtier and global historian (1318)
• (25) al-Hilli - paragon of Shi'ism ascendant (1325)
• (26) Ibn Taymiyya - stubborn reactionary (1328)
• (27) Timur - sheep-rustler, world-conqueror (1405)
• (28) Ibn Khaldun - social theorist and historian (1406)
• (29) Mehmed II - conqueror and renaissance man (1481)
• (30) Shah Ismail - esoteric charismatic (1524)

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Prophet Muhammad (pbuh): The Most Successful Leader in History - Dr. Shaykh Yasir Qadhi

In his last lecture in Memphis moving to Houston, Dr. Shaykh Yasir Qadhi reminds us about what a great leader was our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Very inspiring!

Five times Prayer in Qur'an

At the time of the Messenger of Allah (saws), there were five prayers prayed in the Mosque at five different times. The Quranic aayats regarding the timing of prayers are as follows:

Chapter 11, Surah Hud ayaat 114: Establish the Salat at the two ends of the day and in the early part of the night. (implies fajr, magrib and isha)

Chapter 2, Surah Baqarah ayaat 238:  Take great care of your Prayers, especially of the middle Prayer and stand before Allah like devoted servants. (implies asr) 

Chapter 17 Bani Israel ayaat 78:  Establish the Salat from the declining of the sun to the darkness of the night and be particular about the recital of the Quran at dawn for the recital of the Quran at dawn is witnessed. (implies asr, magrib and fajr)

Chapter 30 Surah Rum ayat 17-18:  So, glorify Allah in the evening and in the morning; praise is due to Him alone in the heavens and the earth: and (glorify Him) in the afternoon and at the declining of the day. (implies fajr, magrib, dhuhr and asr)

Chapter 50 Surah Qaf ayat 39-40:  Therefore, O Prophet (saws), bear with patience whatever they say, and keep up glorifying your Lord with his praise, before sunrise and before sunset. And glorify Him again in the night and also when are free from prostrations. (implies fajr, dhuhr, asr, isha and tahajjud)

The prayer timings in the Quran are implied and thus if the above ayaats are read together, they clearly point towards the 5 obligatory fard prayers. A point to note when reading and understanding the Quran is that we must see how the Prophet (saws) understood and implemented the aayaats. The Prophet (saws) and all his companions prayed 5 times. Prayer was such a thing that it happened 5 times a day in front of thousands of people and thousands of people witnessed the timings and related them in their narrations. In times of extreme rain and travel, the Prophet (saws) did join sometimes the dhuhr/asr and also the magrib/isha prayers according to one tradition, but on a regular basis, he always led the congregation on the allotted 5 different times.Five times Prayer in Qur'an